


The world turned upside down

by FallenStars



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, Arcane Warrior, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fix It, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, No Beta we die like Hawke, Slow Burn, a thousand years of slow burn, honestly who doesnt, main character has a crush on leliana, the cast's all here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:28:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29364771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallenStars/pseuds/FallenStars
Summary: When Aridhel made a deal with a spirit of an ancient Arcane Warrior she didn't count on fragmented memories of his life also hitching a ride in her brain. Aside from changing everything she thought she knew about her people's history and giving her the ability to actually use magic without setting herself on fire, life went on. Until bad luck and no impulse control led her to saving the world with the Dread Wolf himself.Inquisition reimagining with a focus on characters and relationships. Roughly follows the plot but will turn this car around if it doesn't behave.
Relationships: Female Inquisitor/Solas (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan/Solas, Fen'Harel | Solas/Female Lavellan, Fen'Harel | Solas/Original Female Character(s), Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	1. Leliana! (and also the sky is broken?)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Here's the obligatory 'we gotta go close that breach' first chapter, as soon as we get settled the story gets more and more original. We all know how the game goes so we won't be just copying dialogue.  
> Hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think <3

A sharp pain in your hand woke you from unconsciousness. 

”Ow! What the fuck?” You sat up, body aching from the cold stone floor where someone apparently dumped you like a sack of potatoes. The annoyance quickly washed away any residual weariness.  Were you in shackles?  You could understand being pissed at someone but this was just _rude_ .  
  
Presumably whoever your.. captor? was, was waiting for you to wake up since you immediately heard yelling and loud footsteps approaching.

”Whatever this is it  _wasn't_ me, I  _didn't_ do it.” The words came instinctively out of your mouth, as you turned to face whoever burst into the room. Honestly whatever it was you might have done it but seeing a perfectly good chair  _right behind you_ definitely made you decide to be as uncooperative as possible. Two women approached you but you carried on, too in pain and pissed off to care about the flashes of steel and very pointy sword at one woman's hip.

”Do you take constructive criticism? Cause I think-” The words got stuck in your throat and your mind immediately went blank upon seeing the other woman's face. It had to be almost ten years but there was no mistaking the figure now leaning menacingly and perfectly above you. 

”Leliana! Hi!” You somehow managed to get out, almost sounding like a normal person.

Someone might have said something but you were too distracted by swooning over the first human you ever talked to and your first crush. She looked almost the same, maybe scarier, which you weren't  _complaining about_ exactly, the look suited her. Pieces of her hair practically glowed in the dimly lit room, and you almost gave into the impulse to run your fingers through your own hair, a paler shade of red currently held back from your face by two braids. Braids you wore for no particular reason. You just liked them. They were just your thing, it didn't matter why.

It did occur to you then that your tone of voice might not have been perfectly appropriate for the occasion. Or mentioning Leliana's name at all, but impulse control has never been your thing. Besides, she was wearing purple. Your favorite color. What were you supposed to do?

The woman who was not Leliana grabbed your shoulder, the movement causing your hand to explode in pain again, bathed in some sort of green light. You looked and noticed there was a sort of scar on your hand and sensed some sort of magic in it. Magic that felt very familiar in a way you really didn't have time to examine right now, as you caught the words  _kill you_ coming from the other woman's mouth.

”Woah! Hey! Let's, uh, not get carried away here,” you cut in immediately, not wanting the words to linger a second more and give anybody any ideas, “I didn't do anything, this is insane!”

”Insane?” The woman actually growled, “The Conclave is destroyed, everyone who attended is dead, and you're wearing a servant's uniform that does not belong to you. And you call justice for this massacre  _insanity_ ?” You gaped at the woman, so shocked it took you a few moments to speak.

”Massacre? What?” You stuttered, trying to wrap your mind around what she just said. “I did sneak in, okay? I wanted to see what was being discussed and  _my kind_ weren't exactly sent an invitation to attend.” You did your best to wave your non-cursed hand around your face, indicating the pointy ears and vallaslin.

”But I didn't kill anyone, I swear!”

”You lie!” She yelled and lunged, held back by Leliana at the last second. Your hero. If the situation was less horrifying you would have swooned.

”We need her, Cassandra.” The words seemed to get through to her and she thankfully backed away from you, still fuming.

”Very well!” She took a deep breath. “You go on, and I will take the prisoner to the rift.”

You nodded enthusiastically. This sounded like a much better plan than the whole murder thing. You stood up and walked unsteadily to Cassandra, giving her an eager smile. 

”Rift! Sounds great, let's go right now!” 

So apparently the rift was... a hole. In the sky. You looked at it, looked at the mini rift on your hand and back to the sky again.

”Ah. Well. This is fine.”

Cassandra paused being pissed off for a moment to look at you quizzically. “That is... a very collected response.”

”Yeah, well,” you replied, moving your recently freed arms around to get the kink out of your shoulder, “it's kind of too bizarre of a situation to freak out about, you know? Also shock. It could be that too.” With that, you started towards the hole in sky, the tension between the two of you just a bit thinner.  
  
"My name's Aridhel, by the way." You added, trying to capitalize on your captor's slightly better mood.  
  
"Cassandra." She gave you a small nod.  
  
"Nice to meet you Cass." You grinned.

It took about five minutes for trouble to find you again, this time in the form of some Shades charging right at you.

You reacted instinctively, magic surging through your body, allowing you to move fast enough to grab a nearby sword and cleave through the demon with ease. 

You didn't particularly care about Cassandra seeing you, there was no way you would be able to resist the instinct to reach for your magic when the fights got serious. So she might as well see it now and get the argument over with now while you were relatively safe. To your surprise she reacted... much more reasonably than you would have assumed. You got to live, keep the sword and save the discussion for a later time. It was a pretty good deal for you and you hoped she was being so practical because you were growing on her and not because she planned to kill you once it was all over. 

As you moved closer to the breach the pain in your hand kept getting worse, and Cassandra had to help you up several times. Deciding to test your theory and help keep the pain at bay, you decided to bother her.

”Cassandraaaaa.”

”Heyyyy.”

”Casss.” 

”What?” She finally snapped. 

”Carry me.” You whined, as pathetically as you could.

”Absolutely not.”

”But I'm hurt.” 

”Don't make me put you in shackles again.” She threatened and you relented for now.

You were positive her face was less harsh. You were definitely growing on her. 

You continued in relative silence for a while, broken only by yells when you needed to dispatch another round of demons. After particularly intense skirmishes you would look Cassandra over to make sure she was not seriously injured, because that's what friends do. At least, the closest to friends you could get considering she was using you to patch up the sky, a process you were pretty sure was going to end up with you dead. And she might also still think you're a murderer. 

As you started yet another hill the sounds of battle grew more and more near. Cassandra was the first to break the silence. 

”I can hear our allies, we must hurry.”

No more words were needed as you sprinted towards the smaller rift in front of you, magic enveloping you. You closed the distance with Cassandra far behind you and cleaved through the first Shade you could reach. Their numbers where almost overwhelming but you and Cassandra wordlessly fell into formation, guarding a mage and dwarf as they provided ranged support. The battle was barely over, your body still humming with magic as someone grabbed your hand and pointed it towards the smaller rift. 

You were distantly aware of shouting but couldn't focus on anything as the rift's magic sought out your mark and connected, the impact sending pins and needles shooting through your arm. Somehow you grasped the strand of magic and  _pulled._ The rift shook and shattered, leaving you gasping, your hand somehow both numb and aching. 

_Fuck, that hurt._ You took a few moments to breathe and come to your senses before turning towards the person responsible for whatever just happened.

The elf was tall and terribly dressed. His posture, the way he held himself was so confident and immediately set him apart from practically any other member of your kind you've ever met.

The moment your eyes reached his face, it was like all of the puzzle pieces clicked into place. The magic in your hand  _was_ familiar. You've felt it before. At least, the vague memories of the Arcane Warrior you were stuck with because you've never thought anything through in your life remembered it. Flashes from his life were rare and thankfully so, because they mostly showed the depressing history of your people contrasted with glances of Arlathan that took your breath away and caused a deep pang of longing. Memories of slavery and cruel gods that completely shattered your whole world.

You could almost feel the hands on his face when they took away his vallaslin and set him free. See the face of his savior.

  
The same face you were glaring at right now. 

”What the fuck did you do?”


	2. The not so subtle exposition chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally wrapping up the beginning! Thanks to everyone reading, commenting and giving kudos, I love you

“What the fuck did you do?”

“ _I_ did nothing, the credit is yours.” He said, after a small pause. He gave a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“No no _no,_ I didn’t do anything! It was you and this…this _thing_ on my hand!” You replied angrily. You didn’t understand what was going on but your emotions took over, too confused, pissed off and in pain to think clearly. He was saying something but you were getting too overwhelmed to listen to what the _ancient god_ in front of you was actually saying. The dwarf next to you spoke up suddenly and that made your gaze snap to him instantly. You were always terrible at keeping focused so the crossbow and bared chest took over your attention immediately. 

“He meant to say ‘I kept that mark from killing you while you slept.’” The dwarf said and your gaze immediately snapped back to the elf in surprise. If he did cause the whole ‘hole in the sky, end of the world’ thing, why would he save the person who could possibly fix it? You were absolutely too tired for this. If he wasn’t an immediate threat then this was a problem for later and you had more urgent things to do. Like take a better look at that crossbow.

“I love your crossbow, I’ve never seen anything like it!” You gushed and then remembered to act like a normal person and cleared your throat awkwardly. “I’m Aridhel, by the way. Or Ari. Friends usually call me that.”

“Name’s Varric. It’s a pleasure, or it would be if we weren’t up to our asses in demons.” Varric grinned and gave a loving pat to his crossbow over his shoulder. “And this beauty is Bianca, she’ll be a great help to us in this ‘sealing the Breach’ business.”

“Absolutely not!” Cassandra interjected, coming to stand between the two of you. It looked like they had some history together, but you couldn’t figure out what kind. Cassandra’s default attitude so far has been annoyed, so she either cared about him and wanted to protect him, or she would rather risk death than accept his help. Seemed like an even split to you. 

“Oh _come on_ Seeker, you need me! You and your men aren’t exactly in control of the situation.” Varric said and you nodded enthusiastically in his support. Cassandra then made this disgusted noise at you two and walked off, seemingly resigned to her fate. You and Varric looked at each other and grinned. 

The elf behind you suddenly spoke up. “And I am Solas, if there are to be introductions.” You couldn’t help but give a small snort of amusement at how amazingly awkward he just was, and suddenly remembered the fact he saved you life.

“Um, thank you. For, you know, saving my life and everything.” Then you remembered you didn’t like him and started to follow Cassandra’s angry stride.

You quickly learned that Varric wasn’t one for companionable silences, because it took approximately a minute for him to start up a friendly conversation. “So, Aridhel,” he started, “couldn’t help but notice your fighting style ain’t exactly what you’d call conventional. Mind telling us what that’s all about?”

You weren’t even sure how to respond to that and Solas took the opportunity to speak up. “It’s called _Dirth'ena Enasalin_ , the technique of the Arcane Warriors. I am quite curious as to where you learned this skill, since I believed it to be lost with the fall of Arlathan.” 

“I had a teacher. He’s dead now.” Yes, short and simple. Perfect. Heavy enough to cause an awkward lull in the conversation, but Varric would not be deterred. 

“Aw shit, Speedy. We’ve all been there, it sucks.” Varric sympathized and tried to steer the conversation to something less depressing. “ So, for all of us who haven’t met an Arcane Warrior, care to tell us what to expect?”

You shrugged. “I, uh, well.” You weren’t quite sure how to explain this, you usually just _did it_ . “You know how mages channel their magic and make fireballs and ice and shit? Well, I kind of channel it _inward_ I guess. Everything is like ten times stronger. I’m super aware of my surroundings, move faster, hit harder. It’s pretty awesome.” You felt like that wasn’t exactly the best explanation you could have given so you rambled on. “I usually have it… _turned on_ I guess, most of the time. It doesn’t really exhaust me anymore, as long as I’m not fighting or anything it’s fine.”

“But you’re not, ah, keeping it on now?” Varric asked.

“Well, uh. No, not right now. It’s uh, kinda freezing now, so If I did, I’d also be way colder than I already am. Since I’m wearing,” you indicated at the thin servant’s uniform, “basically nothing right now.” You were sure there was a way to activate only certain abilities at a time but you’ve never really grasped that. But they didn’t need to tell _them_ that.

Cassandra cleared her throat. “We will get you warmer clothes as soon as we reach the forward camp.” She offered, sounding a bit guilty.

“Thanks Cass, that’s really appreciated.” You grinned. You totally got it wasn’t her priority when you first met, and you were friends now so it was all in the past.

“Hey, why _are_ you wearing that uniform anyway?” Varric asked, immediately using the opportunity.

“Oh, look! Demons! Let’s go fight them.” You hurried off, hearing Varric snort in amusement behind you.

All of you seemed to be experienced fighters and fell into a routine quickly. You would go after the distant enemies first, preventing ranged attacks before going to the main fight. Cassandra would charge at the nearby enemies trying to keep them off Solas and Varric while they alternated in picking off enemies and watching your backs. 

You heard the sound of an incoming arrow and turned around, confident that it would hit the shade behind you and shared a friendly wink with Varric before you felled the now-stunned shade. 

When you heard the sound of a barrier shattering, you moved quickly. Cassandra and you moved in sync, her disengaging and you taking her place. You didn’t have a shield so you relied on your speed to avoid and block incoming attacks. A few moments later Solas restored her barrier and she jumped into the fight again, helping you to dispatch the last of the shades. 

As soon as the battle stopped your magic faded, leaving you shivering and grinning.

You all walked in sync to the forward camp, dispatching demons with ease, the air feeling lighter until you reached your first mini rift. Your mood instantly soured after closing it, the pain in your arm reminding you of the elf walking alongside you.

As if he could tell you were internally glaring at him, he decided to strike up conversation again. 

“You are Dalish, are you not?” He started, and you immediately disliked the direction this would go.

“What gave you that idea?” You tried to stall for time, to give yourself a moment to actually _think_ about how to handle this.

“You bear the mark of Dirthamen.” He responded dryly and you were surprised he managed to say it so matter-of-factly, considering the whole slavery thing. “Did your people send you here?”

“ _Our people_ .” You stressed immediately. “We are _all_ one people.”

You tried your best to keep your emotions in check. The Dalish might not understand the history of the vallaslin, but that _didn’t matter_ . The world was already so shitty towards your kind, you absolutely wouldn’t stand for elves fighting between themselves too. It was the whole reason you never told anyone about what you learned in the first place, you knew the Dalish couldn’t stand it, and seeing the only elves actually _proud_ to be elves become hopeless would break your heart. So you got your vallaslin because history _did not matter_ and you ran away. Also the mark of the god of secrets seemed fitting when you were an angsty teenager.

“The Dalish _I’ve_ met disagree with your sentiment.” He countered. “I’ve travelled many roads in my lifetime. I attempted to share my knowledge with the Dalish and was rejected for no other reason than their superstition and stubbornness.” He said bitterly.

Oh yeah, you could just imagine what knowledge he tried to share. He was supposed to be, what? Thousands of years old? And you at fifteen had better sense than to try to have _that_ conversation with them. 

“Well maybe your approach was wrong.” You said. 

“Typical Dalish arrogance.” Solas muttered and the conversation died. 

You all walked in silence into the forward camp.

You had _completely_ forgotten that Leliana was waiting for you and you barely managed more than a blush and small ‘hi’ before being dragged into some argument with Leliana and some obnoxious Chantry guy. 

“As grand chancellor of the Chantry, I _order_ you to take this prisoner to Val Royeaux to face execution!” He pointed an accusing finger towards you.

“Um, fuck you?” You managed to respond before Cassandra interjected and defended your honor. You were touched by that, really, and Leliana not wanting you to die was basically all you wanted in life but your hand still stung and you had important stuff to deal with here.

“Look, doesn’t the Chant of Benedictions _specifically_ praise those who fight evil? _Blessed are the peacekeepers, the champions of the just_ ? So let us, you know, _keep the fucking peace?_ ” There was a moment where everyone seemed taken aback by your reciting the Chant by heart, but Leliana was the first to recover and quickly put the man in his place. 

Then _another_ discussion was taking place, about which path to take. Didn’t these people get that you all needed to _hurry_? You were full of energy and barely focusing on what they were saying until you finally snapped. 

“Leliana, could your men still be alive on the mountain pass?” She gave a brief nod. “Great. Let’s go that way. Problem solved, now let’s _go_.” 

Everyone geared up quickly, Cassandra tossed you a warm coat and you were off.

Down countless ladders, through some tunnels. Save the scouts, close mini rifts. Your hand was bursting with pain the closer you got to your goal but you refused to slow down. The party must have felt your frustration and no one started up a conversation, too focused on getting you to the Breach as soon as possible. 

The moment you arrived you kind of regretted it, because things got _weird_.

Varric immediately warned you, specifically, to not touch the red lyrium thing. He really did figure you out quickly. Voices of Divine Justinia and… someone else, echoed through the ruins and you were vaguely aware of Solas explaining something about the Veil. With every step you took the sound of blood pounding in your ears grew louder, overpowering everything else. Everyone seemed to understand there was no conversing with you right now. Cassandra appeared at one point in front of you and you could make out _demons_ and you nodded. 

You absolutely refused to channel your magic now, afraid the magnified pain would cause you to pass out, and your companions seemed to understand that as they formed a protective barrier around you as you reached out to the Breach and _pulled_.

As promised, demons came bursting through the opening, and the valley became a blur of movement. Solas cast a barrier around you and you felt his magic ease the pressure in your hand, giving you the chance to focus on avoiding all demons, especially the giant form that seemed intent on going right for you. Run, reach out toward the Breach, fall down, get picked up by someone. Repeat. Every pull from the Breach seemed to drain something from you, and when you next reached out you felt the resistance and somehow _knew_ this was it. You pulled, felt your knees give out and hoped you didn’t fuck it up.

~~~

The little cottage you found yourself in was a pleasant surprise compared to the last place you suddenly found yourself in. They even put you on the bed and everything. Apparently the whole ‘close the Breach and probably save the world’ thing was enough for them to finally calm down a bit. Cassandra even got to hear evidence proving you definitely didn’t cause this whole mess which was a relief but hardly a surprise to you now, considering you were pretty fucking sure who _did_.

“ _I did nothing, the credit is yours_.” You did your best Solas imitation, then buried your face in a pillow and groaned.

Honestly, what were you supposed to say to that? 

_No it was definitely you, you shady elvhen god. Trust me guys, a spirit gave me his memories._

You snorted. Yeah, that’d work out amazingly. At best they’d just call you an abomination and kill you. At worst, they’d make you a Tranquil. 

You pointedly ignored considering the possibility of you actually being possessed.

It’s been roughly ten years since Leliana and the Warden helped your tribe with your werewolf problem and approximately ten minutes after that you’d found yourself knee-deep in wolf blood in the now-cleared out ruins to do… Even now you weren’t exactly sure what you were trying to do. You were filled with grief and scared to death about becoming the First of your tribe after Keeper Zathrian died and Lanaya took his place. You were absolutely the worst person for the role and to cope you did the first stupid thing that crossed your mind. 

You sighed. 

Even with all the horrible things you realized about your people, you couldn’t bring yourself to regret the decision. You finally found a way to actually use magic and you were _really good_ at it. You just wished you could look at your clan again without being overwhelmed with guilt at keeping so many secrets from them. 

In any case, that was all in the past. Now you’re wiser, more experienced, totally ready to take on anything.

Even bald elvhen gods posing as scholars.

Which you couldn’t do anything about without something terrible happening.

…Except, you could totally deal with your frustration by being as petty as possible and hope he doesn’t figure it out.

Which he wouldn’t, considering he basically thought you were an idiot.

To be fair, it seemed he thought that about all Dalish, not just you. 

To be even more fair, he’s a dick. Even if he did save your life.

With that happy thought you got out of bed, exploring the room and trying to find something to wear other than the dirty, torn and blood-stained servant’s uniform you were still wearing.

A plain white tunic, brown pants, boots and a coat to match were sitting neatly on the writing table in the corner. It’d do.

After dressing you immediately went to wash your face in the basin of cool water someone thoughtfully filled for you, grimacing as you caught a glimpse of your dirty face in the mirror above. You looked paler than usual and your hair was a mess. 

You set about coming through the tangles and making yourself presentable, debating whether to braid your hair or not. After all, two red heads could totally wear braids without it being weird, right?

You sighed and started to style your hair away from your face in a single braid, when one very flustered maid came in and stuttered something about Cassandra needing to see you. 

_At once_ , she stressed. 

Before you could even ask about food, she was off, babbling and clearly flustered. Ah well. You’ll manage to find it on your own. Apparently you’ve been asleep for three days and you were damned if you were going to be dealing with the Chantry on an empty stomach.


End file.
